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Shirl

UnisexGirls' nameBoys' name

County + meadow, through Shirley

Shirl has been given to 1,771 babies in the U.S. since 1934. It was used fewer than 5 times in 2025, so it doesn't appear in the latest year's list — today it's a genuinely uncommon pick. Its peak year was 1964, with 210 recorded. It's used for both sexes: 75% girls, 25% boys all-time.

Babies named Shirl, 1983

1 in 693,000

Shirl over time, 1880–2025

GirlsBoys
010020030018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Girls or boys — Shirl over time

In 1983, Shirl went to 100% girls and 0% boys.

19151983

A sex is only published in years it reached five applications, so a stretch at 0% or 100% means the other side stayed under that floor — not that it was never used.

Shirl: meaning, origin, and history

County + meadow, through Shirley

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Shirl means

Shirl belongs to the name family reached through Shirl → Shirley. Its meaning is “county + meadow”.

Origin, language, and formation

Shirl is used in English.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Shirley.

Pronunciation and spelling

In English, Shirl is pronounced /ʃɝl/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 1,323 girls were recorded with the name Shirl between 1934 and 1983. Its highest annual count was 210 in 1964; its best national rank was #715 in 1964.

In the United States, 448 boys were recorded with the name Shirl between 1915 and 1966. Its highest annual count was 22 in 1938; its best national rank was #1,471 in 1938.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Shirl?

Shirl had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 1983, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 1983
1 in 693,000
5 of 3,463,011 births
Among girls only
1 in 334,000
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 1983
Unranked
Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size
480,076 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Shirl sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Olivia (13,544)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 1983 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 480,076 children born in 1983 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Shirl. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Shirls were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Shirl was born before 1963 — so the typical Shirl is around 62 today.

Median birth year
1963
About 62 years old
Biggest decade
1960s
60.2% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
74.5%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
1,231
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1960s — 60.2% of all recorded uses (796).

Is Shirl rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
—
Not ranked then
Rank vs 5 years ago
New entry
Not ranked then
Rank vs 10 years ago
—
Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago
—
Not published both years
Share of its own peak
0%
Peak was 1964 (210)
Years since peak
61
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
38.2% average annual change
Best rank ever
#715
1964

Spellings of Shirl

Shirl is not the most common spelling — Shirley is, with 74.5% against Shirl's 0.14%.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Shirl is used — girls

Across 1910–2025, Shirl was most concentrated in District of Columbia — about 1 in 50,000 girls, against 1 in 243,599 across all states with data. It was least common in Texas (1 in —).

02 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1District of Columbia1 in 50,000
  2. 2Maryland1 in 50,000
  3. 3North Carolina1 in 100,000
  4. 4Pennsylvania1 in 100,000
  5. 5South Carolina1 in 100,000
  6. 6Virginia1 in 100,000
  7. 7Arkansas1 in —
  8. 8California1 in —

Shading is the share of that state's recorded girls given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Shirl has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Where Shirl is used — boys

Across 1910–2025, Shirl was most concentrated in Utah — about 1 in 33,333 boys, against 1 in 204,837 across all states with data. It was least common in Pennsylvania (1 in —).

03 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Utah1 in 33,333
  2. 2Pennsylvania1 in —

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Shirl has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Shirl by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#715
1964
Peak year
1964
210 that year
First recorded
1934
Last recorded
1983
All-time count
1,323
Count in 2025
Under 5

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#1,471
1938
Peak year
1938
22 that year
First recorded
1915
Last recorded
1966
All-time count
448
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Shirl

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

ShiloShiaShifraShilahShirinShifaShilaShiraShireenShineShiriShiannaShizaShirelShirlyShivaniShiahShioriShinaShianShiannShianneShirShiree

Sibling names for Shirl

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Shirl

Top names of 1964, Shirl's peak yearThe 1960s in fullOther names that peaked in 1964Girls' names starting with S